Slightly Mad devs to make VR-ready rival to Xbox and PlayStation

The video game console industry has been stagnant for a while, with Xbox and PlayStation’s dominance going unchallenged. But there could soon be a challenger from an unexpected direction. “The most powerful console ever” with 4K and VR readiness has just been announced by…Slightly Mad Studios, a developer with no previous hardware experience. Here’s what we know so far.

When pressed, Bell clarified that he meant 60fps per eye, or 120fps total, but it still differs from the way fps is usually calculated for VR headsets (with the HTC Vive now running 90fps, and the PSVR potentially up to 120fps for select titles).

Variety quickly reached out to Bell, who said he expected the console to ship in around three years’ time, with hardware specs “equivalent to a very fast PC two years from now.” He also said that the Mad Box would be competitive with next generation offerings from Xbox and PlayStation in terms of price.

In terms of games available, Bell also told Variety that there would be no exclusive games for the Mad Box “We think exclusives are ‘exclusionary’…we have no plans to pay developers ‘incentives’ to exclude other hardware vendors”. And, although Slightly Mad is “still in early talks with manufacturers of components”, more information including design concepts is expected to be revealed in four to six weeks.

As for funding, Bell explains that that Slightly Mad Studios already has offers from interested parties:

“We have multiple investors already offering the required funding for us to see the product to completion, but it’s still early days and we’re looking at the best offers right now,” writes Bell. “All that we have approached are discussing standard partial ownership investment deals.”

Does this sound more than just slightly mad? After all, it’s easy to make such a claim, but previous efforts to break the Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo console stranglehold from the likes of Valve were failures. Nonetheless, the market can’t remain the same forever and a shake-up from a new challenger could be just what the industry needs. And, after 2018’s saw Epic Games, a respected but by no means dominant name, thumb its nose at both Google and Valve, a dark horse success is always possible. Of course, the big names, with all their money, resources and market expertise, aren’t going to make it easy.